Dash NOT accepted at KFC Venezuela, but another fast food outlet has now jumped in

Contrary to recent media reports, KFC customers in Venezuela cannot pay using Dash. But another American fast food company has seized the initiative…

Just an update to this story, that ran on Wednesday. After the apology that had to be issued to KFC over Dash announcing its currency was being accepted at the company’s Venezuelan restaurants, Church’s Chicken has jumped in to benefit from the bubble of publicity. It’s announced in a Facebook post that you can, should you so wish, pay for your Church Chicken via crypto in Venezuela. It’s a Venn diagram that requires three things to overlap, but you never know.

Here’s that earlier story…

Dash affiliates in the inflation-wracked South American state have admitted jumping the gun after it was widely reported on 7 December that branches of the famed fast food restaurant would accept payments in the cryptocurrency.

In a public apology posted to Twitter, @dashmerchant said the news was “premature” and “reflected our optimism” without a formal agreement being in place.

The original article, reported by Forbes, claimed an exclusive in reporting the news, which has since been denied by KFC Venezuela. The article has since been amended to reflect that discussions are ongoing, instead of confirmed.

In the days after the announcement, trading volume in Dash spiked with several large buys pushing the price north of its previous $60 low.

@dashmerchants retracted their earlier statement, saying: “We want to make a public apology from Dash Merchant Venezuela management, regarding earlier media reports on our relationship with KFC Venezuela, and our efforts for Dash to be accepted as a form of payment.

“Unfortunately, the message released was premature and reflected our optimism instead of the current state of our discussions with KFC Venezuela. We regret the error and would like to apologize to KFC Venezuela, their directors, and the general public. We take full responsibility for the miscommunication.”

It clarified that one restaurant outlet in the Chacao region of the capital Caracas is currently in discussion with Dash to test crypto payments at the till, but no firm agreements have yet been made.

Venezuela goes crypto

In recent years rapidly escalating hyperinflation of the Venezuela bolivar made the currency effectively unuseable.

As his citizens turned instead to Bitcoin, President Nicolas Maduro instead tried to exert control by creating to a national state-backed cryptocurrency called the Petro, which is supposedly backed by the country’s significant oil wealth.

In August 2018 Maduro devalued the fiat currency by 95% and made a formal declaration that the Petro would take over in almost every area.

Banks have begun displaying client balances in Petro, and November Maduro presented the cryptocurrency to oil producing group OPEC as a unit of account for the raw material.

In November, department store Traki, dubbed the Walmart of Venezuela, has begun formally accepting payment for goods in Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin.